Strange Times In Gravity Falls 2
by HuskieDawg
Summary: The twins spend their second summer in Gravity Falls. When a new threat is discovered, life in Gravity Falls is turned upside down. The twins must learn about Bill's past in order to stop a force that is not to be reckoned with. Sequal to Strange Times in Gravity Falls and Being Human! Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

A light flashed and the group stared in horror as a shape appeared before them. He was back. And everything that the journal had said was true.

He floated above them, gazing down with a vengeful expression. Stan took a step forward to shield his family.

This couldn't be happening...

_Earlier that Summer..._

Dipper threw the Frisbee with such force it nearly knocked Bill over. Bill smiled and tried to pass it back but it swerved and hit Soos square in the head.

"Sorry Soos!" Bill exclaimed.

He rushed over to see if he was okay, but the handy man just smiled, gave a thumbs up, and tossed the Frisbee to Dipper.

Stan stepped out on the porch.

"Dinner! Come and get it or I'm giving it to the pig!" Stan called.

Everyone rushed into the Mystery Shack. Mabel was already at the table by the time Soos, Bill, and Dipper made it to the kitchen.

Waddles approached the table and squealed expectantly.

"Sorry Waddles! No spaghetti for you tonight!" Mabel laughed.

Dinner was peaceful and fun as usual. A year in his human body, and Bill was finally getting used to it. A stranger would be unable to see any difference between he and the others.

Stan looked across the table and frowned.

"Did I forget to put the Pitt Cola on the table? Bill, go grab some. There's an unopened bottle in the pantry." He said.

Bill saluted and headed for the pantry. As he walked in, he paused at a squeaky floorboard. Odd. He knew this house top to bottom. There'd never been a squeaky floorboard here. He bounced on it, testing its stability when it snapped out from underneath him. Bill gasped and stumbled backwards into the counter.

He glanced down at the hole he'd put in the floor. Maybe if he covered it up, Stan wouldn't notice. He leaned over to inspect the hole and his eyes widened. Not that was something he didn't expect to find...

"Pinetree! Mabel! Stan! Question Mark! Come quick!" Bill's shout came from the kitchen.

Dipper sighed. If Bill was calling them in to watch him hop on one foot again...

But Bill's shrieks told a different story. They all hurried in to find swinging a book at an owl that had flown through the window. Bill looked oddly frightened as he shoved the bird back outside the window, slammed the window shut, and closed the shutters.

Bill looked frantic. His golden hair was ruffled, and the owl had scratched his face up.

"What the heck was that all about? You called us in here to watch you pick a fight with an owl?" Dipper demanded.

"N-no." Bill stammered. "Look."

Bill passed the book to Dipper and he gasped. The book was bound with burgundy with a golden six fingered hand on the front. There were claw marks across the cover, but Dipper could clearly see a number 4 scrawled on the front...


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper stared at the journal Bill had dropped in his hands. #4. Journal #4! There was more!

He didn't know what to say. He was so shocked and excited that he just stood there, his mouth wide open, his eyes round in amazement...

"Well?" Bill inquired. "Was it worth coming in here for or would you rather have found me hopping on one foot?"

Dipper said nothing but hastily opened the journal, turning the yellowed pages in amazement. Something slipped out of the journal and landed on the ground. He paused, and looked down.

It was a black and white photograph of some sort. Curious, Dipper picked it up and examined it. It was a photo of a beautiful blonde woman pointing to the pyramids. She appeared to be laughing...

Suddenly Bill snatched the photo from Dipper hands and gazed at it. He frowned. What was that expression on Bill's face? Was it grief? Heartache?

Bill ran his hand across the photo and sighed before dropping it back in Dipper's hand and walking away.

"What got into him?" Mabel piped up, hovering over Dipper's shoulder to get a peek at the new journal.

"I dunno." Dipper muttered, shaking the moment off. "Mabel look at this! There's so much more to learn! Who knows? Maybe this is the key to learning about who the author is!"

"Doubt it." Stan grumbled almost too quickly. "Looks to me he was trying to keep his identity a secret. Now come on kids, the spaghetti's getting cold!"

Dipper shrugged, but brought the journal to the table with him. As they ate her carefully examined the journal's contents, excited to learn what wonderful new secrets the book held...

Here were pages on spooks and spirits, there myths of the area, on another page a list of necessities for the apocalypse.

Dipper grinned at a new page of Bill. It was entirely encrypted, but he was sure if he asked Bill nicely, Bill would tell him what it said...

Bill paced upstairs, distressed. He loved spaghetti night but he knew he wouldn't be able to eat. He had a heavy feeling in his chest he hadn't felt in decades... Since the week that photo had been taken to be exact. It wasn't fair. Why did his past keep coming back to haunt him? He was a new man now! Wasn't that good enough?

He whirled around and came face to face with an owl clock. Panicked, he tore it off the wall and smashed it on the ground. They were everywhere!

As he demolished the owl clock he heard a gasp from behind him.

"Bill!"

He whirled around to see Mabel holding two plates of spaghetti. He hesitated before dropping to sit on the floor, burrowing his face in his hands.

He heard Mabel place the plates on the ground. She scurried over to him and gently touched his shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She inquired.

Bill looked up and sighed.

"I guess." He shrugged.

She smiled and handed him one of the plates of spaghetti.

"So," she started. "You hate owls. Are you like afraid of them? Or can you speak owl and they say mean things to you?"

Bill smiled weakly.

"Sort of," he said. "I have a weird feeling. Like they're watching me and I don't know why. It's hard because I can't remember why."

"It's okay," Mabel said. "Sometimes it's best to listen to those gut feelings. It's like when I had a feeling I shouldn't have eaten a 10 bag of gummy worms! I knew there was something that wasn't right about doing it... And boy did I wish I'd listened to it!"

"Yeah." Bill said, feeling a little better. "I just wish I didn't have to work so hard to remember things. It's hard to remember every important detail when you go from being omnipresent and all knowing to... Well, having to cram all that information into a tiny human brain."

"You still know more than Grunkle Stan!" Mabel laughed. "And honestly, I'm glad you're here with us."

Bill nodded, and slowly he began to realize why everything felt off...Stan


	3. Chapter 3

Stan watched as Mabel and Dipper rushed outside, the new journal they had discovered in their hands. He narrowed his eyes. He didn't they would find that one. But now, thanks to Bill, they were all in great danger.

"Stupid Bill...had to go uncover that other journal." Stan sighed, flopping into his chair.

"Stupid me? Oh come now , I wasn't the one who hid the journal so terribly!" Bill's voice came from the doorway and Stan turned to see him leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

Stan rolled his eyes.

"I didn't think anyone would go tearing the place apart!" He grumbled, glaring at the former demon.

"Ha!" Bill snapped. "I didn't know me walking through the kitchen to grab some Pitt Cola was considered 'tearing the place apart.' But your terrible job at hiding things is besides the point. How did you get you get this?"

Bill paced over and dropped a photo on Stan's lap. Stan picked it up and narrowed his eyes at the lady in the photo, laughing in the wake of the pyramids.

"What am I even looking at?" Stan asked.

"You've never seen this?" Bill demanded, looking almost shocked.

"Never." Stan growled. "You'll have to ask my brother if you found that in the journal. Oh wait! We. Haven't. Found. Him. Yet."

Bill looked ready to argue, but he shut his mouth and stormed off, tucking the photo into his pocket.

Stan frowned. It felt like things were coming apart at the seams quickly. He rose up and made his way over to the vending machine.

He typed in the code to his secret lab and made his way down the lonely corridor, pausing only to make sure his tracks were covered...

Mabel sat on a log, watching Dipper pace back and forth. Hopefully Wendy wasn't going to be too long. She was sure Dipper was going to explode if they waited much longer for her.

She couldn't help but smile as she watched her twin. He always got this funny look on his face whenever he was thinking about something important!

A twig snapped in the forest, and Mabel turned to see Bill trotting over to them.

"Bill!" She cried, grinning. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey Shooting Star! Pinetree!" Bill huffed, skidding to a halt. "How's about I help you kids out on your wild turkey chase?"

"Of course!" Mabel declared. "I'm sure Sir Dippingsauce won't mind!"

Bill glanced at Dipper and chuckled.

"He's so worried about whether or not Red's gonna show up!" He laughed, turning to face Mabel. "Doesn't he know she's literally so excited to go on this mystery hunt she forgot to grab her lunch and had to turn back around?"

Mabel laughed. It was fun having Bill around. He really knew how to shake things up!

They all sat, waiting for Wendy. Bill was juggling fire nonchalantly, Dipper had stopped pacing and was now sitting on the ground reviewing the new journal. Mabel tapped her feet impatiently. Surely it wouldn't take that long for Wendy to grab her lunch and head over.

Dipper looked up from the journal and turned to Bill.

"What do you make of this?" He asked, pointing to the page.

The page was covered in owls, and Mabel saw Bill glance around almost nervously before answering.

"Your grandfather loved owls. He was fascinated with them. To him, the ultimate symbol of knowledge. I..." Here he dropped his voice to a whisper. "I believe that after I shut the portal off, he took an omnipresent form similar to the one I took. An owl. In fact, he could even be multiple owls. I don't know. But you have to understand: that kind of power can drive a man mad."

Both twins stared at Bill. Dipper looked ready to ask more questions but shut his mouth and leaped to his feet as a blood curdlling scream ripped through the silence...


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper was the first one to start sprinting in the direction of the screaming.

"Wendy!" He cried.

He hurdled through the forest, frantically scanning for any sign of her. He slipped on a patch of grass and tumbled over, landing with a thud. He lay there, panting. Tears forming in his eyes.

"Wendy?" He cried out one more time.

He stood up and trotted further into the woods, horrified at what he could possibly find. Wendy could be hurt or worse...

He shook the thought off. He didn't even want to think about what he might find.

Dipper leaped over a clump of ferns and onto a ridge. He looked down and gasped.

Pacifica lay on the forest floor, screaming and shrieking while Wendy stood shielding the blonde from what appeared to be a flock of birds. Wendy had a tree branch in her hands and swung fiercely at the flock.

"Wendy!" Dipper called.

He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. She was okay!

He slid down the ridge scooping up a branch so he could assist Wendy in warding off the flock.

"Glad you could join the party!" Wendy teased.

"Well why would I want to miss out on all this uh, fun?" Dipper stammered.

Wendy gave him a funny look as she smacked three more birds away.

"Aw, Dipper you weren't worried were you?" she asked.

"Well..." Dipper began but Bill suddenly arrived on the scene swinging blue flames in every direction.

Dipper and Wendy ducked as Bill waved the birds away with his hands. He looked furious as they scattered and flew off.

Mabel trotted up panting. She gazed after the birds, furrowing her brows.

"Owls?" She chirped, and Bill nodded, wiping sweat from off his forehead.

Wendy helped Pacifica to her feet, the girl was shaking. Her bleach blonde hair a frazzled mess.

"What happened? Why are you way out here?" Dipper inquired.

Pacifica didn't answer, she just looked shocked. Wendy put her hand on her shoulder.

"I think she's in shock." Wendy commented. "We should probably get her back to the Mystery Shack.

Dipper nodded, and the group began to trudge back to the Mystery Shack.

"I don't get it." Dipper said after a few minutes of silence. "Bill, you said Stan's brother was trapped as an owl! Why are the owls attacking us then?"

Bill hesitated.

"I'm not positive. But as I was saying, that sort of power can make a man go mad. Trust me. If you were just minding your own business and then BOOM. You turn into an omnipresent owl, you'd go a bit wacky too." Bill said.

"You day he's omnipresent... Does that mean he has all the powers you used to have?" Dipper inquired.

Bill rubbed his eye and sighed.

"Yes."

Dipper's expression of shock was priceless. If Bill hadn't been so consumed by the sheer number of problems that had popped up in the past 24 hours, he would have laughed.

They made it back to the Mystery Shack, and Wendy sat Pacifica down on the couch and made her some hot chocolate. The girl sighed and sipped the beverage. She would be alright.

Bill paced the floor. It was obvious Stan's brother didn't want the group delving any deeper into the mysteries of Gravity Falls. It was like he was hiding his own secret...

That was it! Yes. There was a secret Stan's brother was trying to keep. He could remember, but it was very hazy.

He closed his eyes and focused on the memory. It was shortly after Stan's brother's transformation.

"How's unlimited power and knowledge treating you, Six Fingers?" He remembered teasing the owl.

"Don't patronize me Bill!" He'd snapped back. "Thanks to you I'm ruined. Look at me! I'm an owl!"

Bill laughed and floated past him, upside down.

"Yeesh, someone's grumpy! Would you have rather transformed into a one eyed triangle?" He laughed.

"Shut up! This isn't funny!" Six Fingers yelled. "You may think you know everything. But you're wrong. In this form I've discovered something you'd never be able to wrap your foolish mind around."

A sinister look crept onto the owl's face. Bill narrowed his eye. Stanley had changed a lot since the accident. And not just his form. His personality had become dark and moody. Nothing like the Stanley he'd known before.

"Right," Bill said sarcastically. "If you're so confident I wouldn't be able to 'wrap my foolish mind around it', then why don't we put it to the test? Show me what you've discovered."

Bill tucked his arms behind his back and waited as the owl stammered.

"Well...I... It's..."

Bill yawned, shipping out his pocket watch.

"That's what I thought." He muttered. "Later sucker!"

And so m he zoomed off into the night sky.

"You'll pay for this Bill Cipher!" He remembered hearing Stanley shout after him. "You might think you're unstoppable but you're wrong! I'll make you pay for everything you've ever done! You, and McGucket, and Stanford too!"

The words echoed in Bill's mind as he snapped back to the present. Stanley was after vengeance.


	5. Chapter 5

Stan came up from working on the portal to hear an interesting conversation.

"She came by the Shack looking for Dipper, so I told her she could tag along with me since I was headed out to help you guys. They just swooped down out of nowhere. Pacifica panicked, so I just grabbed a branch and started beating them." Wendy was saying.

Stan frowned. Well that sounded like an awfully strange day. He glanced down to see Waddles staring up at him.

"What?" Stan demanded. "Can't a guy eavesdrop in peace?"

Waddles only cocked his head to one side, oinked, and trotted away.

Stan leaned closer to the wall trying to pick up more of the conversation.

"It's Stanley." Bill was saying. "He wants to punish your Uncle, McGucket, and me."

Stan frowned. What did Stanley have anything to do with this?

"Is he angry because of the accident? The one where he got turned into an owl?" Mabel piped up.

Stan's eyes widened. How could Stanley be angry? It was an accident! Didn't he see all the work he'd been doing to try to bring him back into his normal form?

"He blames us for what happened." Bill stated, and Stan rubbed his eyes. "I think if we can return him to his normal form, we can see if it'll shift his frame of mind. It worked for me!"

Stan peeked around the corner. Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Bill were gathered in the living room. He raised his eyebrows when he noticed the bratty Northwest girl sitting on the couch looking terrified.

He sighed and causally walked into the living room, pretending he hadn't heard any of the previous conversation. He reached for a newspaper, and felt everyone's eyes on him.

"What?" He grumbled, turning around.

"Grunkle Stan, we need help." Mabel sighed. "Could you tell us about Grandpa Stanley?"

Stan looked shocked at first, but he flopped onto the ground and rubbed his eyes. He sat with his legs stretched out in front of him. He looked exhausted. Waddles came in and licked his arm. Mabel smiled at her pig. She was proud that she'd raised such a considerate animal!

"Kids, I don't know what you guys are doing. But if it has anything to do with the photo in Journal #4, I already told Bill. I have no idea where that came from!" Stan said.

"Grunkle Stan, it's not about that." Dipper sighed. "We just need to know everything about Stanley because something strange is going on. First we found Journal #4 now owls are attacking us-"

"No." Pacifica said all of a sudden. "Guys, we don't want to do this. You don't understand what's going to happen."

Everyone turned to Pacifica, shocked. Bill looked disturbed.

"And what's going to happen? And more importantly, how do you know?" Bill murmured, narrowing his eye.

Pacifica hesitated, drumming the mug of hot coco with her index finger. She refused to look Bill in the eye.

"I can show you. We just need to get back to Northwest Mansion." She whispered.

Mabel hopped to her feet. Seemed easy enough! The sooner they solved this mystery, the sooner they could get to things like summer parties, water parks, and summer romances!

Grunkle Stan agreed to drive them to the mansion. Whatever Pacifica had found was apparently important enough that she'd walked all the way to the Mystery Shack instead of having a chauffeur drive her. Mabel stared up at the mansion as they pulled up. Something was off. There were usually birds chirping and peacocks wandering around the manor, but everything was eerily silent.

Mabel gulped as she climbed out of the car. A shiver ran down her spine. Whatever happened here was bad. Bill even looked on edge. He kept glancing suspiciously over his shoulder, as if he felt he were being watched.

They entered the mansion and Mabel let out a yelp of horror. She hadn't seen anything like it before. It was like she'd walked into a nightmare...

All the ornate statutes and portaits had had red X's painted across their eyes. Some were turned facing the walls instead of toward the center of the room. The curtains had been scratched and torn by someone, or something. The windows were shattered, there were scratch marks all across the floor, and there was an eerie glow of hundreds of lit candles all over the floor.

"What happened here?" Mabel whispered, but Pacifica didn't answer.

She merely gestured to the floor. And that's when Mabel noticed there weren't just scratches on the floor. In the same red paint, a familiar wheel design had been drawn on the floor. A shooting star, a six fingered hand, a star, a pinetree, among other symbols were organized around an image of Bill in his original form, but his eye had been X'd out, just like all the paintings and portraits.

Large letters were written on the outside, but they seemed to be gibberish: ELOO ZLOO SDB. JUDYLWB IDOOV ZLOO SDB...


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone! HuskieDawg here! Thanks to everyone who's been super supportive so far, it's so fun to read all your comments and reviews! **

**I'd like to apologize for the long waits between chapters! School's a bit crazy, but I'll try my best to get things to you quickly! **

**Enjoy!**

Everyone was silent. Even without his old abilities, Bill deciphered the message instantaneously.

BILL WILL PAY. GRAVITY FALLS WILL PAY.

Bill rubbed his eye and paced over to the disaster that was the Northwest's grand lobby. He tried to make sense of why Stanley would strike here first. Unless...

Bill whirled around.

"The Mystery Shack." Bill gasped.

"What?" Dipper asked.

"The Mystery Shack!" Bill repeated, frantically. "That's why he brought us here. We need to get back, and fast. The car's not fast enough."

He sat on the ground and propped himself against the wall. He could move faster in the mindscape.

"Wait, what?!" Mabel exclaimed.

"I'm entering the mindscape." Bill explained, and he hesitated before continuing. "If something happens and I don't make it back, take this."

He handed Mabel his photo of Joan and closed his eyes before the brunette could say another word. He drifted up out of his body and zoomed off. As he swirled down to the Mystery Shack, he could sense something was off. He flew through the ground and into Stan's lab where he found a man with dark brown hair stepping out of the portal.

"Stanley!" Bill yelled, coming to a halt right in front of him.

Stanley was clad in a tattered lab coat, a black shirt, brown pants, combat boots, and shattered glasses. His eyes glowed yellow, his hair was messy and matted, and his six fingers were clenched into fists. He hovered slightly above Bill.

"Look at you...so weak now." Stanley taunted, his voice low.

"Stanley listen to me." Bill started, perhaps he could talk some sense into him. "I know what you've been through. It's hard, I know. Your whole world changes. The power drives you off the edge. But listen. You have a brother and two grandchildren who care a lot about you. You don't have to do this. I can help you."

Bill's pleading was sincere. He himself had planned to unleash terrible power into this dimension before Gideon had turned him into a human in an act of vengeance. Stanley apparently didn't care for his sencerity and with a wave of his hand he shot Bill through the wall with a flash.

Bill stopped himself from reeling across the planet and charged back at Stanley. He may not be so powerful anymore...but he wasn't powerless.

He whipped blue flames into Stanley's face and tackled him. They flew through the ground before Stanley kicked Bill off.

"You say you know what I've been through." Stanley growled, grabbing Bill by his shirt and yanking him up towards the surface. "You say you can help me. But oh how you're wrong. You've never been human. You have no idea how torturous it was..."

Bill gagged as Stanley tossed him in front of the portal.

"You're wrong-" he spat.

"Silence!" Stanley roared. "Your words are nothing. You have no right to speak. And now, you shall finally pay."

Bill let out a sarcastic cackle and grinned despite the growing pain he could feel in his essence.

"It's so funny." Bill laughed. "You're so blind. Do you think this will actually stop me? Do you think your family won't fight you after this? Do you think you'll actually _win _Six Fingers?"

Stanley pressed some buttons and the portal flashed on. Bill grinned at Stanley. If he was going down, he wasn't going to show it. He was going to grin. Let it look like Bill had a plan to come back and let it haunt Stanley for an eternity.

Stanley lifted Bill up and hurled him into the portal. Bill closed his eyes and allowed his face to relax. As the white light enveloped him he allowed the tears to come steaming down his face.

Nobody would ever know what had just happened. Not Dipper, Stanford, Mabel...

Mabel. He'd let her down. He would never see her again.

He sighed. So that was it. An eternity to spend drifting away like this. He sat cross legged and straightened his back.

He sighed, and allowed the light to overcome him...

Mabel sat knitting as Dipper and Pacifica argued about the meaning of the gibberish. She rolled her eyes. Bill would probably tell them when he returned from his trip to the mindscape.

She glanced around. This place was a mess. It was a miracle everyone wasn't hurt!

Pacifica and her family would probably need a place to stay. Perhaps Grunkle Stan would let everyone come stay at the Mystery Shack!

Mabel hopped to her feet, and glanced around to find Stan. As she stepped forward, she tripped, and the photo Bill had given her slipped out of her pocket and drifted to the ground.

She scurried over and picked it up. She held it to the light and noticed something peculiar about it.

As she held it to the light she noticed drawings and letters appearing all over it.

"A secret code!" Mabel gasped.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed that dreadful cliff hanger! Shout out to TheSmileyGuest, Phantom Trainer, Splode, BEALECYPHERS, and numerous guests for your reviews! You guys are all fantastic. :)**

**And now, without further ado...enjoy!**

Dipper looked at Mabel and gasped. It was like a $5 bill only instead of revealing a face when held to the light, the photo revealed numerous symbols, letters and numbers.

"Mabel, you're a genius!" Dipper exclaimed.

Mabel turned and grinned.

"Thanks bro-bro!"

They smiled for a moment when Bill suddenly let out a yelp. He writhed, his eye glowing blue.

Mabel rushed over to him, looking concerned.

"What's happening?!" Pacifica shrieked.

"I don't know!" Mabel cried, and she knelt down beside the former demon. "Bill? Bill? Can you hear me?"

The blonde didn't reply. He merely stopped seizing and shuddered. Dipper looked around for Stan. He'd know what to do!

"Grunkle Stan!" Dipper called, and his great uncle peered around the corner. "Help!"

He rushed over and drug Bill to the car. Mabel and Dipper stayed behind as Stan peeled off onto the road. Mabel looked devastated.

"It'll be alright," Dipper murmered, attempting to comfort his sister. "He'll be alright...hey let's look at that photo. He told you to take it in case something happened to him?"

Mabel slumped onto the ground and drew her knees up to her face. Dipper could see tears rolling down his twin's face.

"Mabel," he said, putting his arm around her. "Mabel it's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine. I promise."

Rain fell gently from the sky as the twins made their way back to the Mystery Shack. Pacifica was picked up by a chauffer, and told the twins she was staying in a hotel until the mansion was renovated.

Dipper stared at the photo Bill had given them. It must have been taken a very long time ago. It was in black and white, though the woman in the photo was obviously blonde. Her dress was old fashioned. 1930's perhaps...?

He held the photo up to the light. Key: Pyramid.

Of course. Why wouldn't it be?

He examined the numbers. None of them were higher than 26. Corellating to letters perhaps?

He folded the photo and stuck it in his pocket. He'd decode it once he got back to the Mystery Shack. After all, he had a very sad sister in urgent need of a pep talk.

He paused and put his hand on Mabel's shoulder. She merely stood there, staring at her feet, raindrops and tears gliding along her face.

"Mabel," he began gently. "Don't worry about Bill. He's going to be fine."

She said nothing.

"We'll sort everything out, we just need to use this code."

Still nothing.

"Mabel-"

And that's when she started sobbing. Dipper wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. Ever since Bill had saved Mabel's life the two had become unbelievably close. You never would have been able to guess that just a year ago the two were enemies at best.

Rain came down on the two as Mabel sobbed. Dipper knew she was worried about Bill and he couldn't blame her. If something like this happened to Wendy, well. He didn't even know if he'd be able to cope...

Wendy sat on the counter, thumbing through a magazine. Hopefully the Pines' would be back soon. The ground had been shaking a few minutes ago, and Wendy couldn't help but feel suspicious. She drummed her fingers on the counter. There were turkeys drawn all over it from Bill's boredom induced doodling.

Surely someone would be back soon? It had been several hours, after all.

She heard something clattering in the kitchen, and she narrowed her eyes. Either Soos was back from his camping trip early, or someone was about to be in big trouble...

Wendy crept towards the kitchen and silently peered around the corner.

A dark haired man stood in front of the fridge. He looked a lot like Stan, but younger, and much more ragged. She backed away from the doorway and gulped nervously. She reached for her hatchet, just in case, and stepped over to her phone.

As she began to dial, the door swing open, and Dipper and Mabel entered the house.

"Guys," Wendy called in a hushed voice. "Guys there's someone in the kitchen."

There twins looked shocked as they rushed over. Wendy led them quietly to the kitchen door so they could get a glimpse of the man, but as they all peered around the doorframe, the man was nowhere in sight.

"He's gone!" Wendy gasped.

She rushed into the kitchen. There was no way he could have gotten away, and yet he was gone.

"Uh Wendy?" Dipper started.

"I swear I'm not crazy!" Wendy shot back.

"No, Wendy-"

"You have to believe me!"

"No Wendy! Look!" Dipper exclaimed, pointing to the ground.

Written in various sauces and cerals was the phrase BILL HAS PAID. YOUR TURN, GRAVITY FALLS...

Wendy gasped as suddenly everything began to float upwards...


	8. Chapter 8

Mabel gasped as everyone and everything floated upwards. Even the ominous condiment message defied gravity!

"Dipper!" Mabel cried. "What's happening?!"

She watched her brother try and reach for Journal #4 which was floating way above his head.

Almost as abruptly as it had turned off, gravity started working and everything (and everyone) came clattering to the ground. The room was eerily silent as the Dipper, Wendy, and Mabel tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Well that was...unexpected." Dipper muttered as he reached for the journal.

Mabel rose up and looked out the window. It looked like everything else has experienced a lack of gravity, too. The Mystery Cart was tipped over and there were several confused looking squirrels in the yard.

"What could have caused this?" Mabel wondered aloud.

"An amulet." Dipper said suddenly. "Whoever did this would've either needed and amulet or to be Bill Cipher before he was turned human."

Dipper was gazing down at the journal looking thoughtful. Wendy glanced up and scratched her head.

That's when a thought struck Mabel.

"Wendy, didn't you say you saw someone in the kitchen?" Mabel inquired.

"Uh-huh." Wendy began. "It was strange, he looked sort of like a younger Stan, only he was wearing a tattered lab coat. What made it weirder was he just...Disappeared."

"I wonder if it was Stanley." Mabel said.

"It would make sense!" Dipper declared, closing the journal. "In order to change forms he'd need to use the portal. The one we saw in Bill's memories last year. Suppose that portal still exists? Stanley could use it to his advantage."

"Wait, how? Isn't that what turned him into an owl in the first place?" Wendy asked.

"Good question." said Dipper. "I'm not exactly sure how it works, so we're going to need to talk to some people who know how it works."

Mabel frowned. Bill would know, but something terrible was happening to him.

"If we get to the bottom of this, could we save Bill?" Mabel whispered.

"That's the plan." Dipper replied. "First thing's first though, we need to do some research. Why would Stanley turn off gravity? Why is the photo Bill have us so important? How can we save Bill? And what do Stan and McGucket know about the portal?"

Mabel nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm with you Dipping sauce." she said.

"Me too!" Wendy chimed in.

And so the hard work began. Over the next couple days, Dipper worked to try and decode the pages of the journal. Gravity stopped working several more times, but it always seemed to turn back on. Soos returned from his camping trip and was able to help Mabel with tracking down McGucket who'd seemingly disappeared.

At first there was a massive influx of panicked news reports by Toby Determined on the changes in gravity, but Dipper was baffled by how quickly the small town adjusted. It was as if it had happened before...

Stan's mood shifted to near melancholy after Bill had his attack. Dipper struggled to interview his great uncle... Did he blame himself for it? Dipper wondered one night as he watched Stan pace the living room for.

Luckily for Bill, the hospital was taking good care of him despite his lack of consciousness. They vowed they'd do their utmost best to bring him back to health.

It was a night after Dipper and Mabel had been to visit Bill when it happened. Dipper had drifted off to sleep as he struggled to decode an especially difficult page in the journal.

He was in the desert, a blanket spread out in front of him. In the distance he could see the pyramids. It all seemed oddly familiar...

"You're not Bill."

A soft voice came from behind Dipper and he yelped and whirled around to see a platinum blonde woman with grey eyes and an old fashioned dress.

"Uh, no. No I'm not." Dipper stuttered. "I'm Dipper."

The woman looked pouty.

"Drat." she whined. "We were _supposed _ to have a picnic."

"Oh." Dipper said, confused.

Why did it matter?

He stared across at the pyramids.

"You want to go explore the pyramids?" the woman inquired.

Dipper shrugged.

"Maybe. If it helps me find what I need." Dipper mumbled.

Suddenly the woman cackled and the dream began to fade out.

"Silly boy!" her voice echoed in his brain. "You don't even know what you're looking for..."


	9. Chapter 9

Stan sat in the lab gazing up at the fractured portal. He didn't know what to do.

He suspected the portal had something to do with Bill's coma, but he wasn't sure what.

He couldn't take his eyes off of the disaster that surrounded the portal.

Everything was warped and twisted as if it had been pulled and crushed by an unimaginable power. Sparks flew off from the portal from time to time and there were triangular shapes burned into the ground around it.

There was gold dust everywhere. Enough to make a fortune, yet Stan didn't dare touch it. It felt wrong.

The busted portal would flash every once in a while, causing gravity to cease working. He sat for hours trying to make sense of why this happened, but no matter which way he turned it, it didn't make sense.

Stan rubbed his eyes. Bill had gone into the Mindscape to stop something... No. Someone. He knew that now.

But how did this happen?

It defied laws of physics. It defied everything written in the journals. It defied everything he'd learned about the portal.

Unless...unless Bill had been right all those years ago.

"You have to close the portal! It's going to tear a rift into this dimension!"

He remembered Bill's warning and shivered.

He'd known the portal held great power, but what it was causing now was remarkable...

He sighed. Remarkable as it was, he needed to find a way to stop it. It was unstable, and despite the fact that it was unplugged, its energy levels still fluctuated.

He needed to stop it. For Mabel and Dipper.

If it turned out Bill was right about its power, it would only be a matter of time before it was too late...

Dipper woke with a start.

The dream was so vivid. It felt real.

The woman from the photo... Why has he dreamed of her? Was she important? Was it Bill's way of trying to communicate with him?

Dipper rolled out of bed and rubbed his eyes. Orange light filled the room with a soft glow from outside. He yawned. It was too early to be up in his opinion, but something about the dream caused him to jerk awake.

Dipper tiptoed down the stairs. Some fresh air would help him clear his head.

He smiled at the thought of watching the sunrise. It had been a while since he'd been up early enough to see it.

As he made his way to the gift shop area he paused at the sound of metal creaking. He cautiously peered around the corner and gasped.

The shop vending machine was swung away from the wall like a door, leaving a dark, empty space behind it. The lights flickered as a figure stepped out of the gap and slid the vending machine back into placed.

Dipper struggled for words but all he was able to do was shriek "Grunkle Stan?!"

Stan stumbled back and tripped over his own feet.

"Dipper?!" Stan exclaimed. "Yeesh! You practically gave me a heart attack! What are you doing up so early?!"

They stared at each other for a moment. Dipper could feel his eyes practically bulging out of his head. He was confused. What was Stan doing?!

He gulped.

"Grunkle Stan?" He finally managed to stammer. "Why...? Uh, why were you in a secret tunnel behind the vending machine?"

Stan sighed and rubbed his eyes. He looked exhausted and worn.

"Kid, listen. I should have shown you this before. But I guess I was too scared for yours and Mabel's safety..." He muttered.

He swung the vending machine back open and gestured for Dipper to follow him inside. Dipper held his breath as he followed Stan into the darkness...


	10. Chapter 10

Dipper said nothing as the rickety elevator made its descent. His heart felt felt ready to beat out of his chest.

What secret was Stan still hiding? Unless...

The elevator doors opened, revealing the lab and portal from Bill's memory. Dipper's jaw dropped. Had Stan been working on it the entire time?!

"Take it all in, kid." Stan sighed. "30 years of my life went into this."

Stan flopped onto an office chair and frowned. He looked ashamed.

"Grunkle Stan," Dipper began, but he paused.

He didn't know how he felt. Angry? Relieved? Betrayed? Perhaps nothing. He'd known about the portal from Bill's memories, but he didn't think Stan would restore it.

"My brother wanted to know all the secrets of the universe." Stan explain, his eyes focused sadly on the ground. "He wanted me and McGucket to help him. We explored the strangest places on Earth, and we finally ended up here, the strangest place off all. That's when Bill began to appear in all of our dreams. My brother asked Bill to help him, and Bill have him summoning instructions. Everything was great. Stanley wrote everything down in the journals, Bill lead us to new secrets. It wasn't long before we began to work on The Universe Portal...Stanley believed entering Bill's dimension would unlock the secrets of the universe."

The two were silent.

"But Bill couldn't let you keep the portal open. He possessed McGucket and destroyed the portal." Dipper said, sitting on the ground.

"What?" Grunkle Stan said, looking stunned. "How'd you know that?"

Dipper sighed.

"Last Summer, Gideon broke out of prison and tried to takeover using an amulet. We stopped him, but in the process, Bill temporarily for his memory erased and we were able to watch what had happened." Dipper explained. "Mabel almost drowned because we were trying to stop Gideon. Not because we were playing by the river."

Stan looked confused.

Dipper hesitated before continuing.

"I guess we both broke our promises, huh?"

A weak smile appeared on Stan's face.

"Yeah, I guess we did." He chuckled. "I had one heck of a bombshell secret..."

"And I kept investigating the journals." Dipper said.

"I tried to takeover some of the authorship after Stanley went through the portal. I watched McGucket go mad and start a secret society... All to forget what happened. " Stan continued. "It was hard. I blamed it on Bill, but mostly I blamed it on myself. I worked so... Hard to bring him back. I wish I'd known what a monster I was helping to unleash into this dimension. Stanley's not what he used to be...I don't even know if he's my brother anymore."

Stan buried his head in his hands. It wouldn't be fair of Dipper to be angry. His Great Uncle had blamed himself for too much.

Instead he put his hand on Stan's shoulder and did his best to comfort him.

"It's... It's not your fault." Dipper said, trying to find the right words. "Stanley wanted to go into the portal. He chose to. As for what's happening now, we can fix it. We might need a little help, but we can fix it..."

"But how?" Stan asked, looking up. "I've messed everything up."

Dipper placed journal #4 into Stan's hand.

"Bill said that there could be a way to return Stanley back to normal." Dipper said. "There's four of these journals, surely one of them has something in it?'

Stan smiled.

"Fighting back." He murmured. "I'm proud of you, kid!"

Stan opened the journal and began to flip through. He paused on a page with images of Bill Cipher. He furrowed his brow.

"How'd you say Bill turned human, again?"

Dipper frowned.

"He said Gideon used some kind of potion. Why?"

Stan flipped through each of the pages.

"I'm not seeing anything about a potion that powerful." He mumbled. "Do you think maybe...it was a potion of Gideon's own invention?"

Dipper frowned.

"If so, there's only one way to get it." He said.

Mabel shivered. She didn't like the idea of going back and talking to Gideon, even if it was through prison bars. Dipper and Stan walked a few paces ahead of her, Soos walking a little ways behind. They approached the tall, looming building that was the Gravity Falls prison, and Mabel sighed. If it meant getting Bill back, she was willing to help.

They entered the building and Sheriff Blubbs led them to Gideon's cell.

Gideon sat with his back towards them, Mabel sighed and stepped forward.

"Gideon?" Mabel said, and he whirled around.

"Mabel?" he rasped. "Oh heavens, it's so nice to see you!"

Mabel shuddered.

_You're doing this for Bill. You're doing this for Bill..._.


	11. Chapter 11

Mabel gulped.

"Gideon, I need you to tell me something." Mabel said slowly.

"And what would that be my lil' sugar waffle?" Gideon said, batting his eye lashes.

"Gideon, stop." Mabel demanded. "I don't like you. This is important. The universe is at stake!"

Gideon raised one eyebrow. He looked skeptical.

"Uh-huh." he grumbled. "And why would you need my help? Don't you have a mystery twin or some magic journals? Why would you possibly need little ole me?"

Mabel stamped her foot in frustration.

"You're an infuriating butt face!" Mabel exclaimed. "I need to know how you made the potion that turned Bill human!"

"Oh really?" Gideon huffed. "And why is that exactly?"

"Because the author of the journals is going to destroy everything if we don't revert him back to his normal form." Mabel stated coldly. "For once we need your help, Gideon."

"And what, might I ask, is in it for me little ole me?"

Mabel paused, uncertain of what to say.

"Let's see, how about not being destroyed? Your kind of stupid if you don't help, kid." Stan's voice came from behind her.

"Fine." Gideon hissed. "But you have to let me out of here if you want me to make the potion!"

Having Gideon in the Mystery Shack was downright uncanny.

He made odd demands, and despite the fact that Stan never took his eyes off of him (not even during gravitational hiccups!) Dipper felt uneasy about having him around.

Dipper admired the courage it took for Mabel to talk Gideon into assisting them. He knew it was a hard thing for her to do after everything that had happened.

"Dude, is it just me...or is it just creepy having Lil Gideon around?" Soos asked one night during dinner.

It was just Soos, Wendy, Mabel, and Dipper at the table, and all of them heartily agreed.

That night, as Dipper settled into bed, he wondered if it was even worth dragging Gideon out of prison for...

He was in front of the pyramids again. The woman sat on the picnic blanket looking immensely inpatient. Dipper gasped and ran up to her.

"Hey!" Dipper called. "It's you again!"

The woman rolled her eyes.

"I have a name." she hissed.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry." Dipper apologized. "But you never told me what your name was!"

"Right." said the woman. "It's Joan. How silly of me to forget, right Bill?"

Dipper whirled around and gasped. There stood the young blonde himself.

"Bill!" Dipper exclaimed, and he ran and embraced his friend. "You're okay"

Bill looked shocked.

"I'm sorry, kid!" he laughed. "But I don't think we've met! Yeesh, Joan maybe we should get him some water! He's got great stroke out something!"

Dipper frowned and pulled away. Why didn't Bill recognize him? He stared up at the former demon, curious.

He furrowed his brow. Something was different about him. Instead of an eye patch over his right eye, there was nothing except a regular eye. And his eyes (yes two eyes!) were blue instead of their usual gold.

He watched as Bill and Joan sat down and began talking about solving the mysteries of the pyramids. The two ate and laughed and acted as if Dipper wasn't even there.

What was going on?

Suddenly the scene switched. They were inside one of the pyramids now, following a map Bill held in his hands.

"It's cold in here." Joan complained.

"You'll live." Bill teased, then added hastily. "But you can take my coat if you'd like."

Bill passed his coat to Joan as they continued there journey. Dipper could see a flashing light up ahead.

"That must be it!" Bill exclaimed, and he rushed ahead of the small group.

Dipper trotted after him until they entered a large chamber.

"It's here!" Bill exclaimed.

Dipper was speechless. He stared up at what appeared to be an ancient Universe Portal...


	12. Chapter 12

Dipper watched as Bill approached the glowing arch. Bill looked in awe.

"It's beautiful." he remarked, turning to Joan.

Joan gazed up at its rippling glow, her eyes wide in horror.

Dipper glanced at Bill who was removing something from his pocket. Dipper strained his eyes to see what it was. It appeared a small gold rock of sorts.

"Bill, what is this?" Joan inquired, her voice trembling.

"Something powerful!" Bill exclaimed, holding the rock up to the light. "This arch could hold all the secrets of the universe!"

The rock began to glow, and Dipper saw Bill's trademark grin spread across his face. The soft glow from the arch suddenly turned harsh, and the gentle ripples turned into violent, tugging waves.

Joan gasped and leaped to the doorframe as the ground began to shake and pebbles and rocks went flying into the portal.

Bill stood in front of the portal as it began to swirl faster and faster. There were several flashes, and the gold rock began to float away from his grasp.

Bill leaped up and grabbed it, but even he began to slide towards the portal. He looked frightened as the strong force tugged him across the floor.

"Joan!" he called. "Help me!"

Joan peeked around the corner. She had an oddly conflicted look on her face.

Bill let go of the rock and it began to glow. It glowed brighter and brighter until it burst, spraying shards all over and slicing the right side of Bill's face.

Bill yelped and fell onto his knees, his hands covering his eyes.

"Joan, please!" he cried out.

Dipper's jaw dropped as Joan merely shook her head.

"I'm sorry Bill." she said coldly. "But I can't."

Bill looked up, his right eye was swollen shut, but there were tears welling up in his good eye.

"What?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry." She said one more time, and she turned and ran back down the dark corridor.

"Joan no!" he shouted after her, and then his voice lowered to a whimper. "Please no...I love you."

But Joan didn't look back.

Bill sat, looking devestated as the force continued to pull him backwards. He scrambled frantically before it became to strong and he was almost instantaneously sucked into the vortex.

The moment he went through the arch collapsed, and all that was left of the portal was a smoking pile of rubble. As Dipper watched, a golden glow started from underneath, and a soft, triangular shape floated up and into the air.

It hovered in the middle of the room, as if it were almost unsure of itself before opening its one eye, legs, arms, and top hat. Bill blinked and examined his new form.

As he floated he began to look angry, turning red and blowing flames out of his hands. The ground began to tremble, and fire kicked the walls of the chamber.

Outside, Joan trudged to the sand, not even looking back at the pyramids behind her. She gazed down at a locket, which held a picture of her and a man who looked very similar to Mrs. Northwest...

Dipper jolted awake, gasping for breath. He leaped out of bed and reached for the journal. The rock that Bill had used. It held some sort of power that Dipper hadn't seen. Perhaps it would help in subduing Stanley, or even bringing Bill back.

Mabel sat, eating breakfast. She stared suspiciously at Gideon, who was shoving a waffle down his throat. Only the most notorious of people could eat waffles that quickly, and Mabel didn't trust him one bit. Stan sat next to the irritating boy reading the newspaper.

Mabel shoveled another scoop of cereal into her mouth, and heard the pounding of Dipper's feet as he came racing down the stairs. She turned her head just in time to see him come skidding to a halt.

"Hey bro-bro! Over sleep much?" she greeted cheekily, but Dipper took her wrist and drug her upstairs.

"No time!" he panted, leading Mabel into the attic and shoving the journal in her face. "Look!"

She gazed at the pages, her brow furrowed.

The page featured some sort of rock with an eye carved on it.

"Gold Stone." she read to herself. "Key to the universe..."


	13. Chapter 13

Dipper watched excitedly as his sister scanned the page.

"Well?" he inquired.

"It's all really interesting, but what does it have to do with anything?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"I saw this in a dream last night." Dipper said, lowering his voice. "Bill was in the dream, along with the lady in the photo he gave us. In my dream, I saw Bill, but he was in the past. And he was human! He has discovered some ancient portal and he used this, this Gold Stone to activate it! Anyways, it was the stone and the portal that transformed him. I saw it Mabel!"

Dipper wasn't able to catch her reaction, as gravity had turned itself off again. They drifted upwards as if it was nothing, waiting for the anomaly to end when the sound of someone shrieking rang out from the kitchen. As the anomaly ceased, Mabel and Dipper rushed into the kitchen to find Gideon cowering under the table, and Stan staring blankly at the window.

Dipper frowned. Gideon had spilled the potion he'd been working on all over the table, causing the wood to be eaten away.

"Gideon!" he snapped. "What the heck!"

But Stan pointed at the window and Dipper stopped.

There were 6 distinct lines ripped straight through the glass, as if if someone with 6 fingers had dug their fingernails into it. Right next to it was a message: "You will pay".

Dipper's jaw dropped as the window suddenly shattered and Stan toppled over.

"Grunkle Stan!" Dipper exclaimed as his great uncle flailed and leapt back onto his feet.

Gideon squealed and hid his face.

"What's going on?!" he screamed.

Suddenly his hair for messed up as if by an invisible force, and he shrieked even louder.

Soos came rushing into the kitchen with a broom.

"I've got a broom!" he yelled, and his hat got pulled over his head. "And I'm not afraid to use it!"

Soos swung the broom blindly before tripping over Gideon. The room turned chaotic, plates zoomed back and forth, shattering as they hit the wall. Stan got a severe scratch on his face, and other windows shattered. Eventually Soos, Gideon, Stan, Dipper, and Mabel resorted to huddling together until finally, the chaos stopped, and the Mystery Shack became eerily silent.

Dipper poked his head up to survey the mess.

It looked as if a tornado had ripped through the room. The table was overturned and broken, the light fixture swung back and forth, and anything that was in the cupboards was now smashed and spilled on the floor.

"Hello?" he heard Wendy's voice from the gift shop. "Is anyone there?"

"Wendy!" Dipper called. "We're over here!"

Stan growned and stood up. He had three long cuts down his face to match the markings on the window. Gideon was shivering.

Soos twirled his broom.

"That'll teach it to mess with us." he said.

"But what was it?!," Gideon stammered.

"My brother." Stan sighed. "I just don't get it. Why does he keep doing this?!"

Before Dipper could say anything, Wendy entered the kitchen.

"Whoa. You guys have a party last night?" she laughed.

"I wish." Stan said.

Stan's face looked awful. Dipper felt an uneasy knot growing in his chest. They needed to work faster before anyone else got hurt.

Soos looked over the list he held in his hand. Dipper had been very clear that this threat had just reached a level higher than utmost importance!

Soos furrowed his brow. Apparently they needed McGucket, some gold, the government agents (if they were still around), some rosemary, shovels, and plenty of mirrors.

It would be a difficult task, but Soos was more than up to it. He exited the grocery store with a rosemary plant in tow. Soos smiled. One down, five to go!

"What are you doing, dweeb?" a grumpy voice came from behind Soos, and he spotted Robbie looking irritated.

"Saving the town." Soos said matter of factly. "You want in?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey everyone! HuskieDawg here! I just wanted to apologize for his long it took me to update! Yeesh, it was too long. Dang school. Anyways, thanks to everyone for your support! Special thanks to PandaPhil, PhantomTrainer, and especially the SmileyGuest. You guys are brilliant! Anyways, I'll try to update faster, enjoy!**

Dipper drew lines on the ground, following the directions in Journal #4 very carefully, Gideon stood next to him with another piece of chalk, Journal #2 in his hand.

"I must admit Pines, this is awful clever of you." Gideon chided.

Dipper frowned and continued to etch the design in chalk. The soooner they transformed Stanley, the sooner they could send Gideon back to prison. He felt a drop off sweat roll down his face. It needed to be perfect... Or it might not work. He finished drawing his side of the wheel and moved to the center.

Carefully and with long, sweeping strokes he sketched Bill Cipher in the innermost circle.

He compared he and Gideon's work. The wheel, along with all it's symbols appeared to be drawn properly, and Dipper smiled, admiring their efforts.

"Nice work Dipper." Wendy's voice came from behind him.

Dipper turned and saw her smiling softly at him.

"I hope this works..." he sighed, but she just hugged him.

"Relax, dude." Wendy said. "It'll all be fine."

The two of them gazed up at Stan as he worked on fixing the broken portal. Dipper could feel himself trembling. He was so nervous. If this plan failed, he could end up getting everyone killed.

Wendy took him by the hand. She obviously sensed his anxiety, and he was grateful for her support.

"Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds," Gideon's irritating voice sliced through Dipper and Wendy's moment. "But what am I to do with these candles, and this bottle of potion?"

Dipper turned his head.

"Keep the potion on you. You'll need that later." Dipper explained. "The candles go around the wheel."

Gideon rolled his eyes and rushed off to place the candles.

Wendy looked thoughtful all of a sudden.

"Any idea what the symbols around the wheel mean yet?" she inquired.

"I'm not sure." Dipper replied. "But I have a few ideas..."

Soos frowned.

"Just do it dweeb!" Robbie shouted to him.

Soos scratched his head and knocked on the door of the mansion. It seemed odd asking the Northwests for mirrors, shovels, and gold, but if it meant saving the town, he'd do it!

The door swung open, and Pacifica appeared in the doorway. She looked confused.

"Jorge? What are you doing here?" She gasped.

"Uh, it's actually Soos." Soos corrected.

"Oh." Pacifica said, examining her nails. "Whatever."

"Anyways, Pacifica. I have I weird question." Soos began nervously. "Do you have any spare shovels, mirrors, and/or gold?"

Pacifica looked even more confused.

"Uh, why" she asked.

"He claims he needs them to save the town or something." Robbie cut in. "Y'know, fixing gravity, beating up some vengeful author who wants to destroy the town..."

Pacifica reached for her coat.

"In that case, I'm coming with you." she declared. "Come on. We need to move fast. What else do we need?"


	15. Chapter 15

Soos and Robbie waited in the foyer of Northwest Mansion while Pacifica located the supplies they needed. Soos sighed as gravity stopped for a few moments and dropped he and Robbie back onto the ground. The anamolies were becoming more frequent now, and clouds were gradually gathering over the town outside. There was a sickly and surreal yellow lighting outside, and everything was eerily still.

Soos glanced up at the wall, trying to distract himself, but nearly had a heart attack instead.

High up on one of the walls was a long tapestry which depicted what appeared to be Bill Cipher floating above a pile of bones, flames, and people who appeared to be begging for mercy. Soos stared in horror at it. Where did it comes from? What did it mean?

Pacifica reentered the foyer, all the supplies loaded on a wagon.

"Soos?" She said. "Ugh, are you okay?"

"His brain's probably just turned off is all." Robbie grumbled.

Soos shook his head and gestured to the tapestry.

"Pacifica, where did your family get this?! And why is it in your house!?" Soos demanded, his voice cracking in shock.

"My great grandma Joan made that!" Pacifica snapped. "It's not for sale and you can't have it."

"I don't want it!" Soos replied quickly. "You don't understand. That triangle... That's Bill Cipher!"

Pacifica didn't say anything, she merely narrowed her eyes and looked back up at the tapestry.

"Bill Cipher?" she finally said. "The tap dancing maniac who used to work at the Mystery Shack? There is no way. He only moved here last summer. He's only what, 17? 18?"

"No, Pacifica, he was a dream demon originally! One that looked like the triangle your great grandma Joan designed on that tapestry! It means something..." Soos said, furrowing his brows and examining the tapestry closer.

Pacifica merely laughed.

"Soos, you are too. Funny." She giggled. "Now let's go before my parents see us.

With the wagon filled with the necessary supplies in tow, Robbie, Pacifica, and Soos headed for the dump.

Soos couldn't shake the feeling of forboding he'd felt since he'd seen the tapestry. Could it mean that if they brought Bill back, he'd destroy him? Or was it even a prophecy at all? Perhaps it was a depiction of Bills past. Soos rubbed his eyes. If it meant anything...

The clouds above were swirling ominously. Something terrible was going to happen. Soos could feel it in his gut.

They entered the dump to find McGucket sitting on top of his makeshift house with an old fishing pole. He appeared to think he was actually fishing.

"Well hi-dee-ho!" he hollered. "Fry some corn and get the mule his Sunday best! Visitors! But what are you crazy kids doing out here in the middle of the ocean?!"

Robbie rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure we need this loser?" he whispered. "I think he's a bit craz-"

He was cut off as Soos pulled his hood over his face. He was tired of Robbie's complaining. Dipper said he needed McGucket's help! And if that's what Dipper needed, that's what they were going to get...

Mabel sat on the couch, her knees drawn up to her chest. She felt like she should be doing something to help, but Dipper said they were almost done. In all her 13 years she'd never felt so nervous, and she was sure Dipper was feeling the same. The house creaked. A storm was rolling in.

She shivered.

How much longer was Soos going to take? She just wanted b to get it over with.

"Mabel! Could you give me a hand?" Stan's voice came from down the hall, and Mabel hopped to her feet.

She was about to head down the hall but paused, her eyes widening as the horrific realization hit her.

Stan was behind the vending machine at the other end of the room. Stan wasn't down the hallway... It wasn't Stan that had called for her.

The lights began flashing on and off and Mabel made a mad dash for the vending machine as an invisible force blew the couch clear across the room.

"Grunkle Stan! Dipper! Help me!" she shrieked.


	16. Chapter 16

Dipper leaped towards the staircase as Mabel's yells became more frantic.

"Mabel!" Dipper cried out.

He could hear Wendy, Stan, and even Gideon hot on his heels. They whirled around the corner in time to see Mabel slide across the room, flailing.

"Dipper! Help!"

Dipper grabbed hold of her hands. He dug his heels into the ground in an attempt to keep whatever force was tugging her from dragging her off.

Dipper gritted his teeth. There was no way he was letting his sister go.

"Dipper!" Wendy called after him as he too started to slide roughly upwards.

He felt Wendy roughly grasp his ankles. Two golden circles appeared behind Mabel, and Dipper nearly let go in shock. They were eyes. Two golden owl eyes gazing down at he, Wendy, and Mabel.

His field of vision began to warp and ripple. The windows bust and the wind began to blow red dust into the Shack. Dipper shut his eyes tightly.

"What is it you want from Gravity Falls?!" he cried out. "We've done nothing to you!"

The answer came as if it were part of the whirlwind.

"Fool. You are wrong..."

Dipper opened his eyes and saw a form appearing around the pair of piercing eyes. The shape of Stanley's owl form. Across the front he was projecting images, no, memories, across his front.

Here was Lazy Susan making fun of his stories... Toby telling him he was a fraud...

Dipper frowned.

"So you want to destroy everyone all because they teased you a bit? Man, you would never survive middle school or high school these days..." he taunted.

The wind seemed to strengthen as more images appeared. Bud Gleeful attempting to get him arrested by framing him as a car thief... Robbie's father threatening him to get off his property... Wendy's father blaming him for dinner sort of natural distaster of some sort...Stan accidentally breaking one of his inventions... Fiddleford erasing his memory...

Dipper was about to tell Stanley off, when suddenly a crackly high pitched battle cry echoed around the shack. He looked down and saw Gideon racing towards Stanley, his vial of potion in one hand.

He paused underneath the rippling owl like outline and splashed the potion upwards. Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy were suddenly released and tumbled downwards onto Stan, who had apparently grabbed hold of Wendy's feet when they'd been yanked upwards.

They watched as Gideon scrambled frantically away from the excess potion as it dripped down, and Stanley's shape suddenly e warped into bright white flames. The wind picked up and pieces of the roof began to fly off.

They gazed upwards as the flames dissapated and the wind howled even louder.

"Fools!" Stanley's voice roared. " You think you can defeat me?"

Embers began to glow in the corners and edges of the shack.

Gideon made a break for the door, but a swirling vortex was descending out of the sky above the shack. He sqealed and headed for the vending machine. Wendy, Dipper, Mabel, and Stan headed after him.

What had they done?

Soos gazed up at the sky, a long, flashing funnel cloud was descending in the proximity of the Mystery Shack.

"It's a tornado!" he cried in horror. "We have to get over there before it's too late!"

Robbie, Pacifica, and McGucket looked confused.

"I think you may be confused?" Pacifica said. "Shouldn't we run away from the tornado.

"Only if you want our town to be destroyed!" Soos snapped, and he charged ahead.

He glanced over his shoulder to see McGucket, Robbie, and Pacifica following, despite the fear of the tornado. Lighting flashed from all angles and the street lamps, cars, and road began to warp and contort... They didn't have much time.


	17. Chapter 17

**Yeesh! I'm sorry for the wait, folks! School has been insane. Hang tight though! We're getting close to the finale! Thanks to everyone following and rreviewing, you guys are fantastic. Hopefully I can get the rest up soon. Enjoy!**

**-HuskieDawg-**

The group ran towards the Mystery Shack, the wagon full of supplies bouncing and teetering as they went. Red shots of lightning were shooting from the clouds, as the vortex gradually descended.

They burst through the doors and dodged several books and plates as they flew across the room.

"To the vending machine!" Soos cried, and Robbie, Pacifica, and McGucket followed him frantically down into the basement.

It was quieter under the Mystery Shack.

"Gideon! You wasted the potion!" Soos could hear Stan growling.

"I hit him Old Man!" Gideon hissed back. "It was literally dripping off from him, couldn't you tell? Or are your eyes just too old to see!?"

"Why I oughta-!"

"Dudes!" Soos exclaimed, rounding the corner into the lab. "Stuff's getting crazy out there! Whatever we're doing, we gotta do it fast! The town's getting wrecked out there!"

He pushed the the wagon towards Dipper.

"You got everything!" Dipper said, smiling. "Soos, you're the best!"

Pacifica cleared her throat.

"He had some help you know," she corrected, irritated.

"What?" Dipper gasped, looking at her. "What's Pacifica doing here?! And Robbie...?!"

"Got nothing better to do." Robbie shrugged. "May as well help save the town."

Robbie smiled at Dipper, and Dipper smiled back. For once Robbie was on his side.

"And after what happened to my mansion, I can't let the same thing happen to the whole town." Pacifica said boldly.

"I was fishing!" McGucket exclaimed. "And these sneaky badgers convinced me to help out!"

Everyone sort of paused and smiled at each other.

The ground trembled, and their moment was over. Stan got back to work on the portal, dragging McGucket with him. Gideon grabbed Soos and Robbie and began digging a shallow moat around the wheel. Pacifica followed after them, placing mirrors across the moat as they dug it. Soos hastily, sweat pouring down his face. It was sweltering hot... And the air smelled of fire.

Decades earlier...

Joan plodded back into camp. She felt guilty, yes. But she needed to forget about Bill. She shuddered, remembering the look on his face as he was sucked into the portal.

"If I'd tried to help him, I surely would have died as well." She mumbled under her breath, trying to reassure herself.

Besides, she had a very important fiancé who'd miss her very much. She had no business exploring with Bill anyways. He was too common for her.

But still the guilt felt heavy in her chest. She felt awful.

When she reached camp her fiancé embraced her and kissed her. She shrugged him off and crawled into her tent, telling him she'd felt ill, and that she needed to rest. But she couldn't.

She had nightmares. There were flames everywhere. She was in an unfamiliar place, it had pine trees, and there were debris from some sort of wooden building everywhere. There were people ducking down and looking frightened, and there was a swirling vortex before them. Suddenly, there was a flash and a flaming red triangular shape rose above the rubble. A great eye opened and gazed down on the chaos...

Joan woke with a start, panting and crying at her nightmare.

Years passed, and the nightmare occurred every night. It plagued her dreams, making it difficult to sleep at first, but she eventually got used to it. She became obsessed with the dream in her old age. She believed it meant something. Her granddaughter married a man named Nathanial Northwest, and she wove a tapestry of her dream, hoping it would live on longer to warn her family of the coming danger than she would...

Present...

Pacifica wiped her brow. The heat in the lab was smothering her. She looked up at the portal and frowned, an ominous feeling overcoming her. She couldn't help thinking of her great grandmother's tapestry. Why? She wasn't sure.

She shrugged it off and kept working. The sooner they stopped this madness, the better...


	18. Chapter 18

Dipper bit his lip. He had loaded the rosemary, the gold, and several other ingredients into the strange contraption. He sat back and sighed, lifting Journal #4 up and turning to the goldstone page.

"For ultimate power," Dipper read aloud. "Present goldstone to universe portal."

He rubbed his eyes. He hoped his plan would work.

The ground shook, snapping him away from his thoughts. He looked around frantically just in time to see the ceiling above him tear away, exposing the chaos surrounding the shack.

Scarlet flames licked the landscape, devouring the forest around them. The vortex above them was spiraling closer, and he heard Robbie cry out in fear. Dipper shielded his face as hot embers blew down into the lab. The air felt strange and heavy, and there appeared to be a yellowy glow to everything around him despite the redness of the flames.

He quickly removed the goldstone from the machine and placed it hesitantly at the center of the wheel. One wrong move and they were doomed.

The wind buffeted everyone as a green strike off lightning hit the portal, and McGucket leaped away and scurried behind Mabel. The portal began to flash, and a white glowing smoke began to rise up from the ground.

Everyone leaped over the moat surrounding the wheel and clustered at its center.

Dipper swallowed, hard. He hoped it would work.

The portal swirled and flashed. The air began to ripple as the world some how shifted. It was as if the very fabric of reality was being torn apart.

Dipper gritted his teeth. His head was pounding as the world around him contorted. He felt someone take his hand, and he looked up to see Wendy had taken his hand in hers.

He managed a weak smile at her as Mabel took his other hand. Pretty soon everyone present stood hand in hand, braced and ready to face the eminent danger in front of them...

Stan gazed directly into the portal. Something wasn't right. This was much worse than the first time he'd attempted to open it.

He clutched Mabel's hand a little tighter. There was no way he was going to let anything happen to his family.

He looked at Dipper who stood boldly at the center of the group. Stan smiled to himself.

"Fighting back." he whispered, brushing away old memories.

Suddenly everything turned dark except for the swirling portal. Everything was dead silent as a figure flickered on the face of the portal.

Stan narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of the figure. It was dark and translucent at first. It was a shapeless blur dancing in the white light.

He thought back to everything he'd read in his brother's journals...all the tales of destruction and doom. The apacolypse even.

Stan shook the thought off. No. They were going to make it out alive today. And they were going to have one heck of a tale to tell when it was over.

The figure became bolder, and began to turn more defined.

Stan's jaw dropped as not the form of Bill, but Stanley marched forward from the portal, eyes glowing gold.

"N-no..." He heard Dipper stammer. "No! This isn't what was supposed to happen!"

His voice was cracking in fear, and suddenly Stan felt a sinking feeling in his chest.

A light flashed and the group stared in horror as a shape appeared before them. He was back. And everything that the journal had said was true.

He floated above them, gazing down with a vengeful expression. Stan took a step forward to shield his family.

This couldn't be happening...


	19. Chapter 19

Stanley stepped towards the group, laughing at the expressions of horror on their faces. Dipper tried to step back in front of Stan, but Stan only pushed him back.

"You thought you could defeat me." Stanley's voice boomed, causing the ground to tremble more. "You're ignorant."

Dipper felt as if he were on fire. Everything was changing. Equipment was melting. Floorboards detatching and suspending in the air. Flashes of multicolored lightning becoming solid and holding their shape. A chair ran across the room like a dog, and a table swam through the air away from the chaos.

It was as if several planes of reality had shifted, and suddenly everything was falling to pieces.

Dipper swallowed the lump in his throat as he remembered what Bill said opening the portal would do to this dimension. He closed his eyes. If this was how it was going to end, he didn't want to see it.

His hand closed around the goldstone and he opened his eyes. He still had it.

Dipper looked down at the goldstone in his hand. It had failed. Unless...

He rushed forward throwing the goldstone into the portal with all his might. Stanley watched it float in, his golden eyes narrowed.

"Wha-" he began, but there was a massive flash of golden light, and the world around them stopped moving and turned silver.

A surreal silence followed. Dipper heaved a sigh as everything froze, and the air became cooler.

The portal swirled in front of them, and a beam of light blasted Stanley into the wheel. Suddenly, the symbols Gideon and Dipper had drawn lifted off the ground, and hovered above the group.

Dipper looked up at the Pinetree symbol floating above his head, his chest pounding. Stanley appeared to be frozen, a six fingered hand floating above him...

The symbols began to swirl as the light from the portal went from a light blue to a harsh yellow. An eye opened in the center as a flaming triangle rushed out and bowled Stanley over. The two clashed, as Stanley reverted back to his owl form. Dipper turned to Gideon.

"Can you make more potion?" He whispered quickly.

Stanley was distracted. Perhaps they could try changing his form again.

"I-" Gideon stammered. "Yes."

Everyone rushed and hid as the triangle and the owl battled. Dipper guarded Gideon as he scrambled to find the supplies he needed.

"Dipper!" he heard Mabel yell. "Dipper is that Bill?!"

He squinted up at the glowing triangle. It must be.

There was a bright flash and the world began to move again. The flames began to crawl into the lab, but the portal had stopped swirling. Dipper felt sweat rolling down his cheek as he glanced up at the spectacular yet terrifying fight between the triangle and the owl. Blue flames this way, teleporting that way, at one point the golden triangle had swallowed the owl whole, but the owl shortly reappeared with a screech as the battle continued.

"It's ready," Gideon yelled.

His usual enemy looked terrified. Perhaps this experience would change him?

Dipper nodded and took the potion from Gideon's hand. They only had one shot at this.

"Your aim's not gonna be good enough," a voice came from behind him.

Dipper turned and saw Wendy.

"You think you can hit him?" Dipper inquired

The red head smiled. Her face was smudged with ash.

"Are you kidding?" she teased. "I can hit a tree with an axe from a mile away!"

Wendy took the potion from Dipper, and he watched as she slunk towards the fight, narrowly avoiding blasts of energy.

Dipper frowned. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. What would he do if he list her...?


	20. Chapter 20

Dipper followed Wendy without hesitation. He had to protect her.

The walls were crumbling as the two fearsome beings battled above them. The whole forest was on fire now. Bill appeared to have the upperhand, knocking Stanley through the ground and surrounding his being in blue flames.

Dipper watched for any stray energy bursts that might hit Wendy.

Blue and gold lights flashed as they hurried toward Bill and Stanley...they only had one shot. One wrong move and the town or maybe even the dimension would be destroyed.

Wendy stopped underneath the two, her red hair blowing behind her. Dipper's heart was about to beat right out of his chest. If anyone could do this it was Wendy.

She threw the potion into Stanley. Time seemed o freeze as the ground shook and a terrible sreeching sound came out of Stanley's mouth.

Shots of gold light sparked off of Stanley as his shape contorted from that of an owl to that of a man.

Dipper sprung forward and pulled Wendy to the ground, shielding her from the shocks.

He looked up, squinting his eyes. Stanley now lay on his side, cringing. Behind his cracked glasses, his golden eyes were filled with tears.

Bill now floated above Stanley. His eye was wide. He looked furious. Flames circled the triangle as lightning came down from the sky. The flames began to swirl around Stanley. Dipper shielded his eyes, it was a terrifying sight.

"Bill, stop!" Dipper's jaw dropped when he heard Mabel.

She had stepped in to defend Stanley from Bill's fury, looking fiercely into his eye.

She swallowed.

"Bill please." She pleaded.

Bill's gaze softened. Gradually he shrank and turned back to his regular golden form, but he didn't stop there. Blue flames licked his form until he finally turned back to his human form.

Bill's golden coat was tattered and his normally curly blonde hair was a mess. He had cuts and bruises all over, and yet he smiled softly at Mabel. Mabel ran over and embraced her friend. Rain was beginning to fall as the chaos settled.

"It's good to be back." Dipper heard Bill say.

Tears were rolling down Mabel's cheeks, but the biggest grin was spreading across her face.

Wendy and Dipper stood up and embraced as well. They were safe.


	21. Chapter 21

The flames died down as the rain fell. Stan lifted his brother up and hugged him.

"Welcome back." he greeted.

But Stanley looked devastated and ill. Tears were rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm a monster." he whispered. "I'm so sorry..."

Stan chuckled.

"Don't worry about it." he muttered.

"Yeah." Bill butted in. "You're not the first person to go completely nuts from learning all the secrets of the Universe!"

A weak smile appeared on Stanley's face, and Stan knew everything was going to be okay.

Weeks passed as Stanley gradually integrated back to human life. Bill and Mabel helped greatly, and as rough as it was he eventually settled into normal life.

Dipper was happy to watch Gravity Falls revert back to its old self. Life went on as usual, which for once was just wash m what Dipper wanted.

He and Wendy sat on the porch, watching the sunset together. Neither said a word, but for once, everything was perfect.


End file.
